Why Facebook Is The King And Twitter Is The Queen Of Social Sharing
SSo you’ve likely visited Youtube and Google to find tutorials on how to maintain and setup Twitter and a Facebook page for yourself or your band because you’ve seen Twitter and Facebook to be powerful tools to create and foster an online reputation within the community of fans. Every band is creating a Facebook page, so why shouldn’t you? But, while your tutorials may have answered the “how,” no one has answered the question, “why” and “for what purpose?”
The number of users on Facebook, greatly outnumber Twitter users at a ratio of approximately 5:2. Facebook boasts over 500 million users, a significant lead over Twitter’s 200 million users, so it’s not surprising that more Facebook users are more willing to share news, updates or videos than Twitter users.
The Data
But let’s get down to the data. Gigya (via The Tech Journal) published their findings today on social sharing, among the top social networks, and found that Facebook is the most frequently used social network to share content:
- Facebook: 44%
- Twitter: 29%
- Yahoo: 18%
- MySpace: 9%
To break this data down further, Gigya dove into entertainment related link sharing (which applies to the musicians out there) and found that Facebook’s lead grows larger:
Entertainment Sites:
- Facebook: 52%
- Google: 17%
- Yahoo: 12%
- Twitter: 11%
- MySpace: 7%
- AOL: 1%
To provide you with a better understanding about how effective Facebook really is in comparison to Twitter, I’ve taken the liberty to take a few screen shots from the latest posts from your favorite music blogs:
Gorilla Vs. Bear
Stereogum
Pitchfork
Pretty Much Amazing
As you can tell, the pattern is evident and consistent. Although these screen shots only account for one day, I’ve found that in the majority of posts from the major music blogs, the number of Facebook shares outnumbered the Tweets. So it did not come as a surprise when I had realized that the incoming traffic to Musebox from Facebook rivaled the traffic coming in from direct traffic and Google search queries.
The gist of how to apply this knowledge to your band’s social presence
You want your fans to be talking and sharing any content related to your band and music on Facebook, whether it be by sharing interviews, album or concert reviews, or tour photos and updates on your Facebook page (and personal profile), as this will increase the likelihood (in comparison to Twitter) of content sharing among your fans, fan’s friends and fan’s friend’s friends.
Posting news on this platform does not hurt, but I would suggest that you focus your Twitter strategy by formulating an identifiable personality or brand for your band.
For example, take a look at the Twitter accounts for Lil Crazed and Skrillex and note that their Tweets ooze personality.
Twitter allows you to directly interact with your fans with personal messages. Utilize that feature to network with industry professionals and to foster intimate connections with your fan, by letting your fans know how you’re doing at this second and of course, by responding to your fans @ messages. They will adore you for it.
Francis Bea is a New Yorker turned Chicago co-founder of Musefy.com (in development) and writes Musefy’s blog Musebox.
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